The Other Side Is Never Alone
by Dar Kash Elin
Summary: Ashelin has been having trouble with her new dark powers lately. Her week hasn't been going along too well, but luckily, she has her good friend Jinx to count on. But how long can the friendship last? Will she ever find someone else like her? R&R please.
1. An Off Day

CH1: An Off-day

--

"Bank right!"

The Hellcat made a sharp turn to the right and dodged the shot from the enemy ship.

"Geez! You don't need to scare me like that! I know what I'm doing!"

"You nearly let us get hit!"

"Here! You fly!"

"Fine by me!" The KG pilot grabbed the handle and pulled up. "Hang on." The cruiser turned around and started flying straight at the ship.

"What the hell are you doing?!?" Yelled the former co-pilot.

"Stay here and find out!" The pilot pressed the yellow buttons at the same time on each side of the joystick and they both heard a loud crack. The two stored missiles on each wingtip had launched off and hurtled at the ship at an amazing speed. The Hellcat slowed down quickly. Then the missiles made contact with the ship.

CAKAKKKKKKKBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!

The eco tanker ship exploded and fell to the desert sand dunes below with a shockwave of dust.

The co-pilot was dazed and shocked.

"Jinx, please remind me not to fly with you on your missions."

"Hey you called me by my proper name for once. And by the way, I saved our butts back there, in case you didn't notice."

The co-pilot sighed.

"Look, Ashelin. You're never gonna get anywhere's without being aggressive and getting the job done without any resistance. Remember that, okay? I guess things change with the KG training over five years…"

"I didn't finish training. I'm taking a… what's the word… a break."

"Since the war, when has there been time for a break?"

"Never."

"Then why are you on a break?" Jinx asked suspiciously.

"Didn't you hear about the monster attack in the Fortress three weeks ago?"

"Yeah, why? What's there to be afraid of? Krimzon Guard don't run, kiddo. But I hear it's some lame joke. I mean, c'mon, even if there was a monster, what would be so bad about it? We see metal heads every day, practically 24/7, so what would be so bad about a little… er, thing? It's not like he or it or whatever the hell it is has sharp teeth and claws, and can climb walls, and can ambush you from any point it pleases, right?"

Ashelin was silent for about two seconds.

"Right. In fact, I've never even see-" But her sentence was broken off by a clapping sound that was louder than a crackle of thunder and there was a flash in the sky.  
"Woah. What the heck is that?"

Jinx pointed to a pink and yellow fireball coming down from the sky rapidly that was heading straight for the industrial section of the city.

"Both hands on the steering mechanism please!"

Jinx grabbed the joystick quickly.

"Sorry, but let's go check it out."

The Hellcat zoomed at full-speed from the near edge of the wasteland to Haven City. They arrived in a matter of minutes and saw where the thing landed.

"Here take the reins for a sec so I can get a good look." He switched the controls to Ashelin.

Jinx used his focus-lens on his goggles to get a closer view, since they were flying at least 500 feet in altitude above the scene.

"Anything?"

"That's odd… there's a blonde kid and some orange rodent standing in the exact spot where we saw it land… Everyone's acting as if nothing happened down there… Very strange… Oh good, the Commander and three of our men already on it. That was fast. Well, it's nothing we won't hear about at HQ. Lets go park her."

Jinx flew the Hellcat Cruiser to the Krimzon Guard Fortress and descended it vertically and slowly in the reserved pad. He shut the ship off after it touched the ground gently. Jinx got out first, then Ashelin.

"C'mon. I would report you for 'taking a break' when you were supposed to be in training, but I'll let you off this once, only because you're the Baron's daughter and a… a friend."

"Thanks."

"But now, you have to get to training. It's not that hard, really. It's your last year, after all. So make it the best. You're lucky you're not signed in yet, too. Or you would've been caught riding with me. I'm sorry, but I won't let you do that again. That one time was a freebee. Have fun in class."

"Okay."

"No, not 'okay'. 'Yes sir' would be the appropriate term."

"YES SIR!"

"That's more like it. Well, off to 'class' for you, kid. I'm gonna go grab a little something at the Hip Hog, and I always take advantage of my lunch hour y' know. While I'm there, do you want me to bring you back anything for your lunch hour?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Alrighty, then."

Jinx checked in and hopped back into the same ship he parked.

"Oh, and by the way… your class starts in two minutes. You're gonna be late."

Ashelin jolted all of the sudden.

"Not again!" She complained.

Jinx started the cruiser back up and headed to the south. She waited for the Hellcat to be out of sight and waited for the last guards to clear out of the area. The place was empty. Everyone was at the training center except her and a few patrols. She ran over to the wall near the rooftop started climbing the ladder on the wall extremely quickly straight up until she got to the top. She saw a pair of guards walking by chatting about their weekend plans and the upcoming championship NYFE races. Ashelin pulled herself up and casually walked infront of the guards and stopped as if nothing happened and put a smirk on her face to make them look like they weren't working hard enough. The guards stopped talking and froze, then straightened their positions and looked at her with interest. One of them whistled at her.

"Hey baby!" Said the guard on the left fluently trying to look cool… until the other guard slapped him. Hard.

"OW! What the hell was that for?!?" He yelled angrily. "You're cramping my style, man!"  
"What style? You think you got style? I'll show you style!" They started arguing with each other.  
"BRING IT ON!"

The two Krimzon Guards started fighting each other and whacking each other with their weapons and were so distracted with beating the crap out of each other that they didn't even notice Ashelin walk away and open up the air vent behind them. She slipped through it quickly and put the lid back on. It was very dirty and there were all sorts of junk and stuff in the shaft. For the last few weeks she used the airshaft to get to the training center in the Fortress. It wasn't the easiest route to take, but it was the shortest. She crept along quietly and came to a split and turned left. Then she came to the elevator shaft a few feet later. She looked down and saw the elevator coming up, so she jumped onto it and landed softly without making a sound or rattling it.

She straightened her uniform and stood up properly and casually, the way a KG normally on duty would. Her uniform was still covered in dust from top to bottom and the front parts of her boots were slightly tattered. She didn't worry about it though, even if the instructor was to get angry at her again. The elevator continued to go up and stopped at the exact same floor the class was. The door opened and a Krimzon Guard stepped in, just as Ashelin stepped out. The Guard stared at her dirty uniform, sighed, and then mumbled something to himself that Ashelin didn't exactly hear. She headed to the right of the hall when just when she turned the corner she saw Erol, the instructor, standing out side of the classroom.


	2. The Punishment

CH2: The Punishment

--

"You're late… again. Didn't I tell you last time you'd receive form of punishment for being late?

Ashelin was silent.

"DIDN'T I?!?" He demanded.

"Yes sir."

"Then why are you late? Specifically 15 days in a row each past weekday."

" I… I… do not know. The monster attack in the weapons storage?" She replied with her best excuse.

"Really? You're willing to miss the beginning of my class just to stay away from some little freak running around?

"Um… yes, I guess so."

"That is unacceptable and pathetic. This is the last time I will put up with that. For punishment, you have to clean the cells and experimentation room. I'll be there tomorrow. And when I get there, I want everything to be spotless. We have a new 'guest' coming in tomorrow. No breaks."

"Yes sir. When do I start sir?" she asked angrily.

"Now. And clean yourself while you're at it. I'm tired of you coming all dirty here. What have you been doing? Crawling around in an airshaft?"

He sneered and walked back into the gym and slammed the door.

Ashelin saluted and headed back to the elevator and cursed at Erol silently in her head. The elevator door opened again and she stepped inside. She hated cleaning and she hated the prisoner containment area and experimentation room, so cleaning the place put icing the cake. The room was always dirty, and even after you cleaned it, it was just as dirty as before. The doors closed and the elevator dropped three floors down to the second level of the Fortress where the cells and experimentation rooms was. The doors opened and Ashelin looked around, but the place was completely empty. No one was here. It looked almost the same since the last time she came to clean the center table. She remembered how exhausted she was the last time she came here and fell asleep in here. She remembered waking up the next morning in the palace, of course. She swore to herself to never do that again, because after that, nothing was really the same.

She walked out of the elevator and opened up the cleaning utilities closet and grabbed an ultraviolet mop and started moving it along the floor and walls, sterilizing everything the light went over. About 5:00 AM in the morning Ashelin started to fall asleep and dozed off unexpectedly.

Two hours later, Erol's voice woke her up and she got to her feet.

"Ashelin, I expect the place to be perfectly sterile for our new visitor by the name of…"

It was silent for a few seconds.

"… by the name of 'Jak'. Your father is here to see the work done too."

Ashelin knew the chamber wasn't completely clean so she panicked and grabbed the mop and ran over to put it back in the closet. Her heart started throbbing hard when she saw three shadows coming up behind the corner and there was nowhere to hide. Well, there was one place, but it would be a tight fit squeezing in the closet. She thought quick and hid just as Erol, her father, and the new prisoner who was infront of them in cuffs popped around the corner.

"Ashelin? Is the place clean? Ashelin? Ashelin, respond now!"

"Don't worry about her. She's fine. She probably left already to her next duty." Said Baron.

"Right. Let's just get started."

Erol pushed the kid named Jak over to the experimenting device. Then Ashelin realized what was going to happen to him.

"They wouldn't…" she thought in her head.

"Don't worry Jak, this won't hurt… actually I was joking. Yes it will."

Jak started backing off really scared, but Erol grabbed him and strapped him to the table to where he could hardly move. Jak was really scared and was struggling to get out, but it was hopeless, so he gave up. Then, the switch to the side of the table was pulled and a needle hooked up to the machine shot towards Jak. Sparks of dark eco flew everywhere as Jak screamed over and over, and Erol just stood there and smiled an evil smile for the next five minutes.

"That's enough now. You can shut it off. We'll increase the amount of time for an hour each day until they add up to 23."

"Yes, as you wish."

Erol shut the machine off and Jak lay on the table in pain and misery, breathing hard. Then, Ashelin recognized him.

"He's that blonde guy with the rat who supposedly shot down from the sky… At least that's what Jinx said… I wonder what he's doing now… probably not something important…" She thought.

After Jak was put into his cell, the Baron exited the room and went back to the palace. Erol looked into Jak's cell and felt no pity for him, but only hatred and said, "You'll be up bright and early tomorrow because you'll be getting special treatments every day until the day you change, or die!"

Ashelin remembered those words and they shot a cold shiver up her spine.

"That was not very nice at all. Ah, he'll be out of there in no time." She kept thinking.

Erol stopped mocking Jak and headed towards the elevator which Ashelin was near.

If she were to be caught by Erol, she would be forced to quit the KG training and probably be killed.

Erol stood and waited for the elevator impatiently when suddenly a hair fell from Ashelin's head and started floating silently towards to the ground in front of Erol. Ashelin opened her eyes just in time and saw this, and her heart skipped about two beats.

The closer the hair got to the floor, the faster and heavier her heart started beating. Erol saw the hair right infront of his face and grabbed it with two of his fingers.

"Hmm? What's this?"

He heard a small creaking noise above him, which got his attention.

He looked up.

Nothing was on the ceiling or walls above him, so he turned his attention back to the elevator door, which had just opened. He stepped inside and put the hair in one of the zipper-pockets of his jumpsuit. Just as he was putting the hair away, Ashelin saw it change from a dark-grey, back to the normal red color. The door closed and the faint sound of the lifting elevator was heard.

"Oh boy."

Ashelin started to slip from her spot and accidentally let go of the pipe she was holding onto and fell to the floor.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" WHAM. She hit the floor flat face down. She heard a slow twisting creaking sound, and she flipped over onto her back, and when she heard a snap she opened her eyes and looked up, seeing the pipe she was standing on a second or two ago coming flying down towards her. She rolled back over on her side and the pipe hit the ground with a loud bang and bounced once. She froze and turned on her opposite side and looked at the pipe. She sighed with relief and got to her feet again, a little wobbly and uneasy after the fall, and walked to the elevator and stepped inside.

After that morning, Ashelin didn't know how to spend the rest of her weekend away from guard training, so she headed back up to the palace; the casual way this time.


	3. The Battlefront

CH3: The Battlefront

--

She got to her room after a long walk and jumped onto her bed. She rested for a while and looked at the portrait of her mother and father hanging on the wall above her nightstand.

She looked out of her window at the city down below and noticed an enormous explosion where the northeast corner of the city wall was. It had started to crumble, and Ashelin felt the room shake as the large wall started to fall and hit the ground. She was in shock and horror when she saw this. Then a second explosion, a little further south than the first one, knocked down more of the wall and the ground shook again.

"Something has to be done abou-" But she was interrupted by a radio call from a KG who let her know what was going on immediately.

"All Guards and trainees report in full combat to the northeast corner! Metal Head attack! Bring as many cruisers as needed. Jinx, Second Chief-in-Arms, over and out!"

"Damn! Trainees too?!?" Ashelin complained. She slipped on some extra armor and left her room and headed to the Hellcat pad at the Fortress.

Ten minutes later, she got to the Hellcat pad and saw Jinx waiting for her next to his ship.

"Get in quick!" Jinx barked at her, and she responded. The Hellcat lifted off the ground quickly, and headed straight for the disaster site. When they got there, people were fleeing in every direction, while Metal Head grunts, wasps, and prowlers were chasing them, and continued to destroy the remains of that part of the city. Jinx flew over to the remains of someone's balcony and hovered low over it.  
"Get out! You'll be a little safer from up here! If you need to get down, tell me, alrighty?" He yelled over the engine of the ship. Ashelin got out and yelled back,

"No problem! I've got my gun, I'll manage!" Ashelin watched Jinx pull his ship back up and take off to the west back to the Fortress, probably to shuttle more people. A metal head grunt started climbing up the wall under her, so Ashelin reached to her holster and held her hand up in the firing position to the metal head and moved her finger as if she were pressing the trigger… until she noticed that there was no gun in her hand.

"Where's my gun?!?" She yelled in panic. She looked at her hand and holster, and her pistol was in neither of the two. She grumbled and backed off of the edge of the wall, and stood firmly waiting for the grunt to get all the way up. Ashelin got more nervous as she heard the metal head climbed closer up to the top. Then, it popped up and pulled itself up onto the destroyed balcony. It had stopped dead in its tracks at the sight of her, though. Ashelin yelled and lunged at the grunt, with claws extended, before the grunt even saw what was coming. Her claws punctured the metal head right through the arm, causing it to scream in pain and thrash its other arm towards Ashelin's face. The arm missed her head by centimeters, only because she ducked quickly and yanked her claws out of the grunt's arm. She got up quickly and backed off a bit. The metal head got up, and started a limping run towards her. Ashelin tried jumping out of the way, but she was too slow, and the metal head grabbed her by her ankle and tripped her, causing her to slow down a bit. The metal head lunged at her once she was on the ground, and finally caught her by her face.

The metal head swiped at her face, and this time did not miss.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" She yelled in pain and anger. She struck at the ugly metal head's face with her hand, and the skull gem popped out, killing it.

Ashelin got back up, panting, still with the horrible stinging sensation on her face where the metal head scratched her. She put her hand up to her face and felt it burn horribly so she yanked her hand away quickly. There was quite a bit of blood dripping down the cuts on her face. Then she looked at her blood-soaked gloves and finally noticed they were torn at the fingertips where her claws currently were.

She sighed and said, "Not again… I just bought these."

Ashelin removed her gloves carefully, trying not to rip them any more than they already were, and stuck them in her pocket.

"Those were the last pair in my size." She mumbled.

She looked up into the air, and noticed a really bright purple, streaming object in the shape of a missile that was leaving a trail of lightly colored smoke was launched into the air. Then it started coming down in Ashelin's direction at the base of the high-up balcony.

Ashelin looked in both directions quickly but there was nowhere to jump to. She picked a direction without thinking and ran to the right, when she noticed a piece of twisted rebar sticking out of the wall, hanging over the water. She increased her running speed to get to the edge of the side of the balcony rail faster. She jumped up on the rail, then made an amazing leap to the rebar pole and landed on the top of it with her hands and feet. Then the missile hit the bottom of the balcony and exploded.

Ashelin started to feel herself lose balance, just as she did this morning with the pipe in the Fortress, and she knew it was not because of the explosion. So she took advantage of it and jumped to another piece of rebar sticking out of the building, this time landing not so smoothly. Then the next bar, even less, decreasing for each bar she jumped on. Finally, she gave up and decided to climb down with the last of the power she had. She let go of the bar and grabbed the wall, and scurried downwards. Then, when she was a little more than halfway down, she slipped off the wall unintentionally. And landed with a thud on her back this time, instead of her face.

"IT'S THE DARK ECO FREAK!" Someone yelled.

Ashelin pretended not to see anything.

"We've been looking for you for about three weeks now!" Said another, more deeper voice.  
"I can't believe I thought it was a joke!" The first voice said again.


	4. The Monster Is Outta The Bag

CH4: The Monster's Out of the Bag

--

Two guards came running out from behind a pile of rubble and Ashelin couldn't do anything but to surrender. She turned around, put her hands in the air and kneeled down to the ground. The first guard stopped before he could fully see whom it was behind the dust, and ordered the other one to stop too.

"State your first and last name."

Ashelin felt a horrible jolt in her stomach as he asked the question. It was over. They'd find out sooner or later…

The guards came and walked closer to her as she spoke.

"Ashelin. Praxis." She said confidently, but also with fear.

The guards froze in their tracks when she came into view.

"Wait a minute! She's a _she_?!?" Said the second guard.

"What the heck are you doing here?" Said the first guard as he dropped his gun and came closer. He took off his helmet and held it in his arm.

"JINX? I guess I should have told you abou-" But she was interrupted by him.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me about this? …Damn, what happened to your face? It's bleeding like crazy." He signaled the other guard to come closer because it was safe.

"Who's your friend?" Ashelin and the other guard said at exactly the same time.

"Grim-Ashelin, Ashelin-Grim. She already said so, you moron. Are you deaf? But that's far beside the point. Ashelin, were you the one who murdered six of our men inside the Fortress three weeks ago? Was it you or someone else?" Jinx asked curiously but sternly.

"I…I… yes… I'm sorry… they tried to kill me first. It was kind of an accide-"

"And you never told anyone." Grim said angrily.

"I'm sorry…" She calmed down a little more and relaxed.

"Lucky for you, we haven't reported you yet." Grim said.

"We won't tell anyone. We promise you." Jinx said, still worried. "Eh, you can get up now, you know. We'll head back to the ship… unless it's destroyed by now or something by some stupid metal head."

"Oh… sorry." Ashelin said nervously and got up shakily. She leaned next to Jinx and they started walking back to wherever the ship was. Grim followed behind and rolled his eyes.

"I- uh- um, do you have sharp teeth and claws? I was just wondering, I'm not trying to get you down or on your case or anything, it's just- uh- nevermind…"

She was silent anyways and stuck him a mean glare, not wanting to answer the question.

"Sorry…You wouldn't ever think about killing US would you?" Jinx asked suspiciously.

"Probably not likely, since I do have almost full control of myself. That only happens when I get angry or frustrated, really, really angry or frustrated. If I don't build up anger, then everything works out and no one gets hurt. I really don't want to talk about it if that's okay with you guys…"

"What do you mean by ALMOST full control?" Grim stopped walking and also asked.

"Shut-UP, Grim," Jinx said while gritting his teeth, "Didn't she just say- AHHHHH!!! A METAL HEAD!!! KILL IT!!! KILL IT ASHELIN!" Jinx screamed in terror as prowler popped out from behind a pile of rubble and started charging right towards them.

"Why me? I don't have my gun! You're guys have the guns!"

"I'm on it… wimps…" He ran to the front of them and shot the metal head twice in the stomach, then it died and slumped on the ground infront of them.  
"You guys suck." Grim said to them.

The metal head's front paw twitched. Grim shot it again just to be sure.

"What do you mean you don't have your gun? You told me you had it!" Jinx said a few seconds later after Grim's comment.

"I thought I had it at the time, but I lost it somewhere, and I don't know where. It's either in the Fortress, or the palace."

"We'll have to look for it later, we don't have time right now." Grim said.

They walked into the hole of a building, which appeared to be blasted open. Ashelin saw Jinx's cruiser and walked up to it. It had a dent on the left side of it, like something big punched it, but the rest of it was perfectly fine.

"Let's blow this pop stand." Jinx said as he put his helmet back on and hopped into the Hellcat.

"Right." Ashelin and Grim said at the same time again.

"It's gonna be a bit crowded, but we'll manage. Let's stop by the Hip Hog for lunch."

"Fine by me." Ashelin and Grim also said at the same time.


	5. Lunch At The Hip Hog

CH5: Lunch At the Hip Hog

--

They stared at each other with annoyance for the next few minutes as the ship flew out of the building and to south town's port. They gave up eventually, and by the time they did, they were already there anyways. Jinx parked the ship next to the door, and they all got out and headed inside. The entire place was empty except for the waitress who was standing at the bar.

"What 'ya gonna get?" Jinx asked  
"I'll have a Hip Burger, no mustard this time, and a lemonade." Grim said.

"And you, Ashelin?"

"I'm not really hungry, so I'll just grab a shake."

"Okay then, I'll pay for it this time." Jinx said. "Go grab us a seat."

Jinx walked up to the waitress at the bar. She was tall, and had long wavy black hair, and mole on her left (Jinx's right) cheek. She was smoking a cigarette and had kind of a deep voice with a serious accent.

"Watcha' gonna get, hon?" She put the cigarette back in her mouth and puffed out some more smoke.

"I'm just gonna have a Hip Burger, a vanilla shake, and a lemonade. Oh and a Hog Dog." Jinx responded.

"Already prepared." The waitress said and handed him the food on the tray.

"Thanks uh," He squinted and read her nametag quickly, "uh- Gloria. He he."

Gloria looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut up and go sit down." She shooed him away to where Ashelin and Grim were sitting.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Jinx said, agitated. He set the food down on the table and Grim dug into his burger right away. He finished it quickly in just under three minutes, then finished his lemonade quickly and burped.

"'Scuse me." He said

"No kidding?" Jinx said with a mouth full of hot dog. He swallowed it and asked Ashelin, who was sipping on her shake slowly, a question. "Did you make it to class on time yesterday?"

"Nope. I even took a shortcut…"

"That sucks… didn't you get in trouble?"

"Yes. Except Erol made a threat that if I'm late for class one more time, he'll have to refuse me from training." She responded. "He told me to clean the experimentation room and cells. I didn't finish by the time he came in the morning, so I hid on top of the pipes the whole time."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. You know that blonde kid you saw yesterday? Erol brought him in and tortured him with some dark eco… poor guy. He has to stay there until he ends up like me, or he dies. I highly doubt he'll die if he hangs in there, but he probably won't be there for long. Shouldn't be any longer than a day or so."

"Too bad for that guy. Ah, but he'll be outta there in no time." Jinx said.

"Probably." Grim said.

"And more bad news," Ashelin started," Erol has a hair sample of mine, only he doesn't know it's mine… well not yet anyways. It fell off in the Fortress and floated down infront of him, then he grabbed it. When he saw it, it was a dark gray color, but right before he turned away and put it in his pocket, it turned back to red, so point being: this could be a problem."  
"We'll get it from him." Grim said enthusiastically.

"Thanks guys." She said.

There was a silence for a while until Ashelin broke it again.

"You guys want to hang out tonight?" Ashelin asked the two of them, feeling a little better.  
"Tonight? Ah, um… we have guard duty. RIGHT, Grim? Grim?"

Grim was looking in the complete other direction at the few metal head trophies decorating most of the place, and didn't even hear a thing that Jinx or Ashelin said.  
"Oh, sorry. Nice trophies, huh?"  
"Yeah they're alright, but we have guard duty tonight, DON'T WE." Jinx asked as he eyed Grim.  
"No w- OUCH!" Jinx kicked him hard in the leg. "-We don't, uh, not have guard duty. But…uh, tonight we get to guard… uh, THE PALACE CORRIDORS… yeah there." He looked at Jinx, who just put his hand on his face and wiped it down in disbelief of such a poor excuse.

"Sorry, man." Grim said with a bit of fear and mistakenness.  
"You guys are afraid of me still, aren't you?" Ashelin asked with a bit of frustration.  
"Well, no… not actually, but um you see, we… uh-" Jinx said then gave up as soon as Grim interrupted,

"Yeah." He said.

"Well I can understand if-" Ashelin started, but was interrupted by Jinx.  
"No, no, no, it's not that! We're still your friends we're just-" He was re-interrupted by Ashelin.  
"-Chicken?!?" She yelled angrily and got up. "Fine. I'll just be by MYSELF! You're not welcome in any vicinity near me anymore. I'll just leave now."

"But-"  
"GOOD DAY TO YOU!" Ashelin grabbed her coat and walked out of the door.

It was pouring rain out side when she stepped out. She clutched her coat tightly and put the hood up over her head and walked along the street. There were many flashes of lightning and it was dark and gloomy. The whole street was one giant puddle. Ashelin's feet made large splashes as she walked to the east side of the port, and some areas were even flooding and cordoned off. Ashelin thought to herself, _What was their problem? Why are they afraid? What would I do to them?_


	6. Rainy Days

CH6: Rainy Days

--

She turned the corner heading to the statue of Baron Praxis, when she saw a guard arresting a civilian violently. She knew this wasn't right so she ran over to the guard and poor person.  
"Stop that! Let him go!" She yelled, but her voice was drowned by the loud rain, "Didn't you hea-"

Splash! She tripped in her running and fell into a puddle, getting all soaking wet. She groaned, and was now even colder from the rain than she was before.

She got up, and tried squeezing the water out of her hair, and used the puddle as a mirror to fix it the way she wanted it. It was frizzy and soaking wet, but she couldn't get most of the water out of her hair, so it was still dripping.

Another few flashes of lightning occurred, and some thunder to go along with it. Ashelin looked down in the puddle and saw her reflection, really quite a bit scattered from the raindrops, but she could tell it was different. In the puddle, she saw her darker side, instead of herself. In another flash of lightning, the reflection was normal again.

Ashelin stood there quietly, her eyes still transfixed with her own reflection in the water. She saw the guard start walking away with the pedestrian, so she started running off faster, but more carefully, making sure not to trip and fall in any puddles again. She caught up to the guard and yelled again. The rain was clearing up a little more, and her voice carried along the air better.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Ashelin said calmly.

The guard stopped and turned around and said snootily, "Who'd like to know? This pedestrian was caught carrying a gun in their pocket, and probably planning to overthrow the Baron."

"Did you ask him?"

The guard was silent for a few seconds. He opened up his communicator.

"We need two cruisers for sector 9, bring second-in-command to take suspects in to custody, over." He said into it.

"What exactly did I do?" Ashelin yelled.

The guard didn't respond. She should of known better than to question his authority.

But it was too late and a cruiser came zooming around the corner at top speed towards them. Then a few seconds later, another ship came from the direction Ashelin was walking from. The first ship landed; then the second, and a guard came out of both. She recognized the second guard as Jinx, so she calmed down a bit. Jinx saw her out of the corner of his eye, but didn't say anything or turn his head, knowing he'd get into trouble himself or make himself look suspicious.

He walked to Ashelin, and then handcuffed her. The other guard went to the civilian and handcuffed him and put him in the ship to take off towards the Fortress. Jinx did the same with Ashelin, except after he got in the ship, he whispered, "I'll get you outta this. Just stay calm and everything will be fine."

Ashelin winked and slouched into her seat.

"Why did you come to get me? Is Grim still back at the saloon?" She whispered to him.

"I had to, and I had the closest cruiser in the area. And yeah, Grim's still back at the Hip Hog."

Jinx said something to the other guard as he got back in the ship while Ashelin wasn't paying attention.

"Ashelin, I'll take off your cuffs, and when I tell you to, climb to the top of the ship, then jump to the nearest powerline. Understood?" He whispered.

Ashelin nodded her head in a 'yes'.

"Buckle up."

Jinx lifted the ship in the air, and took off towards the north, following the streets instead of going over the city as usual.

He saw the other cruiser lift up behind him.

"Hang on kids… It's gonna be a bumpy ride." Jinx said. He accelerated suddenly, the gravity pulling them back with a lot of pressure. The Hellcat behind them put its sirens on.

"Don't worry, I've got it handled."

He dodged the zoomers and other cars, changing hover zones now and then to avoid traffic. The cruiser followed them until Jinx changed the hover zone to low one more time, and the ship above had a head-on collision with another zoomer and exploded, leaving two black ship carcasses behind them.

"That was close…" Ashelin said, until she saw two more ships come around the corner. "I take that back."

Jinx maneuvered over the ships and pulled up into the air and headed towards the slums. He took off Ashelin's handcuffs quickly and slowed down a bit more. The ship gradually descended and flew back to the street, but only just so much more higher than the other cars.

"Ashelin, top of ship, NOW!" Jinx yelled.

Ashelin scurried quickly to the cruiser's roof and stood low between the two forward mounted machineguns. There was a flurry of electrical lines up ahead, and she wondered if Jinx could clear it or not.

"Get ready to jump! There's a group of lines ahead!" Jinx yelled again.

"But I can't!" Ashelin yelled back.

"Then think of something quick!"

Ashelin panicked and got lost in thought.

"LOOK OUT!"

Ashelin turned her head and saw another cruiser, possibly one of the same ones she saw earlier, turn the corner, with its gun blazing in every direction. One of the shots was fired directly towards her.

"AARGGGGGGGGHGG!" She yelled when the laser hit her. It burned like fire and was extremely painful, but she and Jinx didn't give up yet. The ship kept firing shots at them, but Jinx avoided them as they went under the cables.

"Holy yakkow, are you alright?!?" Jinx yelled and turned his head.

"I'm fine. I think. Just a little burn, that's it for now."  
She felt her vision blur in and out a few times and a few sharp pains here and there. Her jaw felt kind of sore and her gums were itching for a second, but it went away, even though the pain from the laser still stung like acid.

Jinx's eyes widened when he saw her, then he turned back around petrified.

"What now?" Ashelin asked him curiously.

"Uh. Um. You. Ah, nevermind." Jinx said with his tone decreasing and getting more squealy with each word.

Ashelin glanced at herself quickly and then understood what was wrong with Jinx. She turned dark again without realizing it because of the sudden shock of pain and anger together. Jinx was always afraid of things with fangs and claws, such as metal heads and lurkers. She didn't understand what was wrong with lurkers… they were a peaceful race, and still are, even with her father enslaving them to do work around the city.

Jinx took his night-vision goggles off, since they appeared to be giving him a rash.

"I'd keep those on if I were you." Ashelin said to him.

"Why? They start to itch after a good few 15-minutes you know! It's not like _you_ can see any better when you have them off or anything."

"Oh you really think so?" Ashelin said with a touch of sarcasm.

"Yeah, of course."

"Then I guess you see that large jumble of powerlines you're heading straight for at the moment."

"What powerlines?" Jinx put his infrared goggles back on. "Woah!"

Jinx slowed the ship, and went under the powerlines.

"Thanks…" He mumbled. He turned around to Ashelin again, and saw her stick her tongue out at him.

"Good thing you didn't bet anything on that." She said.

"That was immature… Anyways, stop freakin' me out like that with all your 'powers'. It gives me the creeps, okay?"

"Sorry, but that's really not my fault." She paused for a second. "I guess we'll have to hit the next batch of powerlines, which should be coming up soon here in a second. I'll get ready to jump."

"You said you couldn't." Jinx debated.

"Well now I can." Ashelin said as she made an easy leap up and landed on a wire. "I'LL HEAD TO THE PALACE!" She yelled as the ship turned the corner quickly and disappeared, with the other cruiser still chasing it.

Ashelin regained her balance on the wire and walked over to the other side of it with ease. She leapt to the roof of one of the buildings but didn't exactly land so smoothly, then she headed to the river district of the city, where the closest entrance to the palace was. She walked over to the other side of the building facing the west, and looked down. There were lots of zoomers and quite a few people. She didn't want to be seen or caught, and there wasn't really any way of crossing. The only thing going across was a thin cable that probably couldn't support her weight. It was the only thing there, so she gave it a shot and tried to run across it, but the cable snapped.

"Aaaaahhh!" Poomph. She hit the cobblestone pavement below and was knocked nearly unconscious.

Wearily, Ashelin got up quickly and wrung out her coat, which landed in a puddle under her.  
"I'm sick of falling…" She mumbled to herself as she wrung her coat out.

She put it on quickly, and adjusted it to where no one could see her hands and face. She walked along quickly, not exactly watching where she was going because the hood on her jacket hung low on her head. She accidentally bumped into a fat citizen who wasn't watching where he was going either, and stumbled backwards, nearly tripping, and her hood lowered off her head revealing her face.

There was nothing different about it when she felt it, but when she opened her eyes in relief, the citizen ran away screaming. She grabbed her coat and slid it back over her face, and continued walking pretending nothing happened.

It had started to rain again, but not as heavy as before. It was still a pitch-black night, almost everyone had gone to bed, there were only about two people still in the streets, and all the businesses had closed for the night. Ashelin lowered her hood, because it was dark enough to where no one could see her. All the streetlights were off for the night.


	7. Rude Awakening

CH7: Rude Awakening

--

It was nice and warm in the palace, and the hall corridors were lit nicely with torches. She wasn't that hungry, so she headed back to her room, which was also warm. Jinx should have been at the palace by now… _ah, he's fine_, she thought. She looked at the time, and noticed it was past midnight. She had had a long day, and all she wanted to do is sink into her bed and fall asleep peacefully…

It was a nice, Sunday morning, the last day of the weekend. Ashelin wanted to have a nice, normal day, without any guard business such as yesterday. She got out of bed, and slipped on a pair of jeans and a black tank-top. She headed down to the breakfast corridor, and grabbed a small stack of pancakes without anything on it. She didn't know what to do today, but she just knew she didn't want guard duty. She wished that everything that happened last night was a dream, but she looked out the window towards the ruined part of the city, and it was still being fought over. She noticed a construction crane started to go up near the area, and was rebuilding a more inner part of the wall.

The rest of the day was boring, and Ashelin decided she would rather have guard duty than sit around doing nothing but eat and look out at the city… the dirty, ruined city… Mar might have done a much better job taking care of the city; until her father, and her father's father, ruined it slowly. Just then, Jinx came in on the yellow hand-held intercom:

"Ashelin, Ashelin, the Museum of Haven's History has just had a robbery, and no other guards are available. We saw the four bandits head into the sewers. Meet me in the southern entrance to there in the industrial section so we can head them off. You and me only… And I'm sorry that Grim and I didn't want to hang out last night. And by the way, you don't have to dress in uniform. Wear what you like… Anyways, Jinx, over and out!

"The sewers? …" Ashelin said quietly and headed to the main palace elevator and rode it down. She grabbed her hoverbike and headed to the southern industrial section.


	8. Down and Dirty

CH8: Down and Dirty

--

The main door to sewers opened up, and Ashelin stepped on the elevator, and rode it down. The other air-lock elevator doors opened up, and she saw Jinx waiting patiently.

"That's all you're gonna wear, suga'?"

"I guess so."

"Did you bring any weapons?"

"I brought me, myself, and I… Does that count?"

"Erm… okay, that works. I guess. But where's your gun?" Jinx said with the least enthusiasm.

"I still can't find it… Well, actually I didn't even bother to look for it."

Jinx sighed.

"Well, lets get started. The bandits should be coming from the north sewers, so we'll head to the left."

"Alright then, let's go."

They walked up to the water and looked in it. It had a snorkletooth swimming around in it. It saw them, and swam down deep into the darkness of the water to where they could only see its eyes shining from the dim light. Jinx grabbed his night-vision goggles and slipped them on. They looked funny on him, since he was wearing only a little KG armor on his arms with beige capris and a dull green shirt.

"Oh… the snorkletooth is a problem…" He slipped his red scarf over his mouth and nose because of the smell, because he almost passed out it smelled so smelly.

"What's up with you?" Jinx asked her because she started to look light headed and dizzy. "Yeah, that stank's pretty bad, huh?" He said without a response from her.

Then her vision blurred and came back better than it was before.

"I'll manage." She said back. "It sure is cold in here."

"You should've worn something el- Damn, your eyes are freaking me out again!"

She looked in the water, and saw that yes, her eyes were indeed black without any color or whites again, but the rest of her was normal. The same thing must have happened last night.

"Sorry. My eyes have been goofing around lately… or ever since last night anyways. I don't know what's up, but it's freaking me out too. It must be automatic now or something… It helps quite a bit. I mean, I did save our asses last night."

"That's true… Well, anyways, we can't cross the water because there's a snorkletooth in it and-

"-And it's dirty." Ashelin tried to finish his sentence.

"Well, no. Dirty water is the least of our problems. There's no way to cross without swimming." Jinx corrected her.

"Oh." She said, ashamed that she was thinking dirty water is a problem.

"Someone will have to go into the water to kill it, so it's safe to swim across. But I didn't bring my gun either, and you obviously don't want to get dirty. So that means that-"

"I'll have to go." Ashelin finished his sentence again.

"Alrighty, then… you're the one who's more armed than me, and you want to, so go."

Ashelin didn't really want to go into the water to kill the animal, and she was actually quite scared. But yet, she held her breath and dove into the water headfirst, trying not to be afraid and floated in the water looking for the snorkletooth. The bubbles from her jump in finally cleared, but she did not see anything. She could see the walls of the pipes and everything around her, but there was no sign of the creature. Her heart started thumping faster. Everything was silent and still in the water, and the only thing she could hear was her heart beating fast, and her limbs flailing in the water trying to keep her under. There was nothing in the water. Her lungs started to collapse from lack of air, so she decided to swim back up to get a breath and dive back down. She started swimming upwards, and Jinx's face came into blurry view.


	9. Stealth and the Snorkeltooth

CH9: Stealth

SHHHREEEEAKK!

Ashelin heard a quick, shrill screech in the water that sounded like some screaming… thing. Before she knew it, there was a sudden burning in her ankle. She struggled to get loose of it, but something was pulling her down quickly, and the adrenaline rush made her lungs demand even more air. She couldn't get the air… her head was getting light… a splash in the water… the orange and white flurry below was going to win… She took in a breath of water, expecting air.

Water filled her lungs

_Jinx… he did his duty… I did mine…_ She thought.

Then she thought again. She was still alive, and her head didn't feel as light.

'I'm alive? Wait a minute, this has to be a dream…' And yet she was floating there, being dragged down by some beast, and she was still alive somehow.

She looked at Jinx who was swimming down towards her quickly. She tried to kick the snorkletooth with her free leg that wasn't being grabbed, but continuously kept missing. She felt her ankle become free again, and knew right away that Jinx had gotten the monster to open its mouth. Ashelin swam back up to the surface of the water and climbed back up onto the ledge, coughing up water She wrung her hair out, and looked back into the water. Jinx had killed the snorkletooth by hitting it in the head and was heading back up.

The amphibian was sinking to the bottom slowly, and Ashelin didn't know how it was killed. Jinx broke the surface of the water, bleeding quite a bit on his arm.

"Thanks… you're hurt." Ashelin said to Jinx. "That damn bugger bit right through my boot too."

"Yeah I know… and you're welcome. That scratch on your face is almost fully healed. And you got that… yesterday, right? What's up with that?"

Ashelin thought about this, but didn't even notice that it was healing so quickly. She didn't say anything, so she just shrugged.

Jinx took a bandage out of the bag that was on his back, and wrapped it around his forearm really tight.

"At least it's safe to cross the water now."

Ashelin and Jinx jumped back into the dirty water and swam to the other side. They got out of the water and heard a clanking noise from down the pipe. They stood still for a few minutes and saw four lights moving, like flashlights, pointed at the ground at an angle.

"Here they come." Jinx said whispering quietly.

"What do we do?" Ashelin asked him.

"You can ambush them from behind, just be really quiet, and pick them off slowly to where they won't notice easily. Go now! Don't worry about me, I'll head them off and cause diversions." Jinx whispered back to her.

Ashelin jumped onto a pipe hanging on the ceiling above, and stayed there for a few seconds, waiting for Jinx to clear out ahead. Then, she followed the pipeline to where the bandits were and waited for them to pass infront of her. They walked forward and stopped, because they heard a quick creaking noise above. They all stood there and looked up and around but saw nothing. They brought their attention back to what was ahead… and didn't pay any attention of what might be behind…

There was a small thud and scritchy-scratchy noise behind them, and the only person who stopped and turned around was the fat guy in the back. He pointed his flashlight in every direction on the wall and didn't find anything. He was then spooked by the voice of one of the other bandits.

"C'mon Mog, we haven't all day! The boss wants the statue back pronto y 'know! And there's no way to get it through these pipes, so we'll have to ditch it and never work in this joint again."

"All righty." Said the fat guy named Mog. He didn't sound all too bright.

Ashelin moved out from behind the safe spot of the wall and crept only about ten feet behind Mog, jumping and clinging to the ceiling or behind a pipe wall whenever he decided to turn around and when she thought she was making too much noise. Mog turned back one last time, and Ashelin dropped from the ceiling about two feet behind him.

She stood there for and second, then, rapidly covered his mouth so he couldn't scream and grabbed his neck as fast as a striking rattlesnake.

She pulled him up towards a wall and kept him in the same position. She put her hand closer to his throat and extended her claws, specifically the one on her index finger.

"We can do this the easy way… or we can do this the fun way… Tell your little buddies to take the statue back to the museum… or suffer some entertaining consequences. Your choice. Make it fast."

Ashelin released her grip on his mouth and knocked the flashlight out of his hand. The flashlight bounced a few times, and then turned off.


	10. Innocence

CH10: Innocent

"Anyways," She said as the flashlight turned off, "any last requests? And by the way, if you scream or tell your friends about me, I'll be forced to kill you immediately, then pick off the rest of your friends _slowly_." She put a lot of emphasis on the last word, which made Mog tremble and whimper slightly.

"Anything to say, nothing at all?" She said to him.

"Wh- who the hell are you?!? And turn the lights back on!" Mog finally said.

"I'm not going to tell you, unless you return the statue."

"Is that a threat? And who are you? What are you?" Mog asked her extremely nervously.

"I'm Praxis' daughter… and unbeknownst to anyone else… I'm on the KG's 'most wanted' list. But they don't know what they're up against or even looking for… quite sad really." She said back to him. She released her grip on him completely, knowing he wouldn't go anywhere without any lighting and all of the info he heard, and so she started to circle him slowly.

"You win. But I only tagged along with these guys for the pay." Mog said truthfully.

"Innocent? It'll take me a while to believe you."

"It'll take me a while to believe _you_."

Ashelin's vision started to blur in and out, and the room seemed to darken and lighten every few random seconds.

She grabbed the flashlight before her vision went back to normal and held it firmly in her hand. She kept banging it, trying to get it to turn on, but it wouldn't turn on.

"Damn it." She said as she threw the flashlight on the ground, and it started to flicker, but then died. "Worthless piece of crap. You got another flashlight?" She asked Mog demandingly.

"Nope. What were ya tryin' to do?"

"Turn on the flashlight I removed from your possession." She responded agitated.

"It seems you can see in the dark, right?" Mog asked suspiciously.

"Better than you can… just let me find the flashlight again…ah, here it is!" She said after searching the ground by waving her hands lowly over it for a few minutes. She picked it up and tried turning it on several more times, but it didn't work. Then, when she didn't want it to turn back on, it finally did.

"Nice hair." Mog said, as the flashlight illuminated Ashelin's face and she growled. "But uh, where's the guard uniform? I don' see no red, except your hair, which doesn't count. Does the KG really let you wear tank-tops and denim capris now? And thank Mar you're not the dark eco freak."

Ashelin wiped her hand down her face, and replied with part of the truth.

"This is a private mission and I won't tell you more… Except it's not nice to use the term 'freak'. Try using a synonym such as 'different' or 'normally challenged', thank you."

She tried turning the flashlight off, but then it wouldn't go off. She growled in frustration and tossed the flashlight back to Mog, who actually caught it.

"Go back to your little friends and tell them to put the statue back. You know what I'll do if you don't."

"How will you get out if you can't see?"

"Very carefully." She replied, unsure of herself.

"Alrighty then! Going…" Mog said as he trailed off to where the other bandits went. Ashelin followed silently behind him, and every few times Mog asked whether she was there or not, she didn't reply, which made Mog really nervous.

"I know you're watching me somewhere." He said, shaking. "Oh, here are the guys." He said enthusiastically, and ran up to them.

"GUYS! GUYS! We need to take the statue back to Haven Museum. We can't fit it through the pi-"

"We already found another way to get it though the pipes after a bit of navigating." Said a skinny, but muscular man in the group. "Why should we return the statue when we've come this far?"

"BECAUSE SOMEONE IS GOING TO KILL US IF WE DON'T!" He yelled at them.

"Who? Who told you we needed to return the statue?" Another bandit asked as he turned around pointed his flashlight at Mog's face.

"Oh, I know! The Baron's daughter!" Said the skinny man mockingly. "Or even better! The dark eco freak is coming to kill us! Oh, I'm scared!"

They all laughed at Mog, who turned a pink color in frustration of trying to explain, and then realized that Ashelin told him not to tell them about her.

They heard a slight thud, like someone landing softly on a metal floor.

"Hey, I heard that sound before…" The skinny guy said as he swung around with his flashlight, pointing it horizontally in every direction. There was a slight patting noise that was hardly detectable.

"You hear that?" He said again. "What the-?!?"

His flashlight was grabbed right from his hands and turned off.

"Who did that? Give me back my flashlight!" He yelled again but heard no response from anyone, except Mog.

Mog whimpered. The other two men had their flashlights taken quickly from them too. The room went darker, and the only person with a flashlight now was Mog. It was quiet for a while, until they heard a few splashes.

"Was that the sound of your flashlights being dropped into the waterline?" Mog said. It was quiet, then Mog felt a cold hand on his throat as he was put in a headlock… it felt all too familiar. He yelped.

"I'm sorry!" He said, but then felt something familiar and as sharp as a knife slide on to the nape of his neck.

"You should be. We had a deal… remember?" She said to him slowly. "But I've taken the time to realize that yes, you are innocent. So I'm just going to let you go. Now take your time to head back the way you came and forget everything you've seen down here."

"Th- thank you… but what about the other four?" Mog asked her.

"Oh don't worry about them… That's my problem now. Not yours."

Her quiet voice echoed slightly in the sewers for a while. She saw Mog, obviously taking advantage of the offer, with his flashlight run in the opposite direction and out of view.

"Who are you? What do you want? And what just happened?" Said one of bandits.

"I'm sure you know by now who _I_ am… but what I'd like to know, is who your boss is." She asked them politely.

"His name's Krew! He owns the Hip Hog Heaven Saloon! And he's involved in the black market." Said the skinny one. "Just don't kill us!"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you. You see, you know too much already. And if I don't kill you, someone else will."

She walked over to the skinny one and started circling around him, just as she did with Mog earlier.

"Let's not waste time now, shall we? I only have about five minutes to kill you, so let's make it quick. By the way, I like your hair… brown with blonde highlights… how original."

"How do you know what color my hair is when I can't even see anything?!?" He responded.

"We're wasting time again… and I think you mean _you_ can't see anything. Don't imply that if you can't see something, others can't either. Now, who should I pick off first?"

She saw the two other men run in the direction Jinx was hiding, and he was ready to ambush them. Jinx jumped out from behind the wall and grabbed the guy on the right and pulled him back behind, while the other guy continued to run.

There was a loud yelp and a thump and then the only sound heard was the small fast pattering of the other bandit's feet.

"What did you do to him?!?" the skinny guy asked her.

"I didn't do anything. That was a friend of mine. I guess I have no choice but to start off with you."

The man tried running in the direction Mog went, but Ashelin did a low swipe-kick to trip him. He hit the floor hard and couldn't get up. Ashelin rested her boot on his chest.

"What's this?" She reached for a cylindrical object strapped to his belt. "An extra flashlight? You won't be needing this."

She took the flashlight away from him and kept it in one hand. The man still trembled in fear, since the situation was getting really unusual. Ashelin turned the flashlight on and pointed it at his face.


	11. Looped and Loaded

CH11: Looped and Loaded

"Any last requests?"

He closed his eyes so the light wouldn't blind him and Ashelin noticed this, so she pointed it to the wall instead. Big mistake; the wall was metallic and the light reflected off of it and back at Ashelin and the man anyways, partly illuminating them both. The man opened his eyes in relief, but then closed them again.

"Just kill me now, I'm a loony." He said. "Ha ha ha! I'm crazy! Wheeeeeee!"

Ashelin raised her eyebrow and agreed that yes, he was a loony. For entertainment, she just kept letting him talk and grin with happiness.

"Ha ha ha! I feel dead already! I'm seeing monsters with flashlights! Ha ha ha he ha ha ha ha ha!"

"You are crazy. Ha ha." Ashelin went along with his laughing until she made a suggestion.

"How 'bout we go toss you in the sewer because you're a nutcase. Ha ha ha ha."

"OKAY! Let's go!" He said gleefully. Ashelin knew something was seriously wrong with him. She lifted the flashlight off her face and pointed it towards the ground infront of her.

"Follow me!" She said, failing to mock his delusional happiness. They got to a well-lit area where the man could obviously see better. He was still walking behind her, but then gasped when he saw her.

"Alright, now I'll get something to wrap your limbs to your body so you'll drown slowly and suffocate painfully. Is that okay with you?" She said with her back facing the guy, barely glancing over her shoulder to look at him.

"Of course." He replied much more seriously than before. Ashelin heard a small metallic clicking noise.

"Ladies first." He said gesturing as Ashelin turned around and saw him pointing a gun at her head.

"Fine. Shoot me. I know you'll miss. You're too afraid of me right now to care about your aim." She said calmly.

"I'm a gold rank sharpshooter. Don't tell me I'll miss." He fired the pistol and, expectedly, missed. The laser hit the wall missing Ashelin's head by about a foot. She stood there patiently as she saw him load the pistol again furiously.

He shot the pistol again, and this time it was aimed for her heart; a much easier target. The laser headed directly for her, but by the time it got to where Ashelin was, she wasn't there anyways. She dodged the shot as fast as lightning, leapt to the wall on her right and held grip on it.

"What?!?" He yelled and reloaded his gun again. "Die already, eco-freak!" He kept shooting at her, but kept missing as she jumped from wall to wall effortlessly.

She climbed up the wall she was currently on to a sheltered area where she couldn't get hit by bullets. She heard him yell at her again.

"Cowardly? Come down and fight like a- a- whatever… forget it, you win; I have no more bullets. You can come down now, and we'll negotiate."

Ashelin thought about this for a second, then noticed a power switch not too far from her on her left. She crawled over to the switch and held it with her hand.

"Negotiate my boot." And she pulled the switch down. The lights went out. Then she heard a ticking sound, and saw that the only thing that was on was a little power generator timer. She jumped down from her spot and stood infront of the guy without him noticing. He was still holding his gun up in the air, pointing it around purposelessly, not knowing where she was. Ashelin seized his arm and took the gun from him.

"Give it back or I'll-" He started angrily.

"-You'll what? Hurt me? It's time to say goodbye… right now."

WSHT! BAM!

The sound of the gun shooting, followed by a thump, then splash of water echoed through the pipes. The power came back on. Ashelin was holding the man's gun, so she twirled it like in a country-western movie, and stuck it in her holster. Then she heard Jinx's voice.

"All of them dead now?" He said.

"Probably. Lets get out of here. And good news, I have a gun now. Bad news: we can't get the statue back, and there's a whooshing noise coming from down there." She pointed to the pipe adjacent to the one Mog took.

"I can't hear anything. Sound like water?" Jinx asked.

"Yes. It's coming closer. Now it's fading a lot… a whole lot."

Jinx sighed with relief and displeasure as he watched her change back. Her light blue skin faded and her hair went from a frizzy dark gray to its natural silky bright red. Ashelin shot him a dirty look.

"Get used to it." She said dryly with clenched fists as her fingernails shortened rapidly and restored their original color.

Jinx nodded his head vigorously with agreement, and nausea. "Well, now I can start to hear it. If I can hear it, that means it is getting closer, and that we better get moving, right? Do you think it's raining outside?" He said as the faintness grew louder rapidly. Too rapidly.

"Most likely with the weather this week…RUN!" Ashelin yelled as she suddenly saw water gushing rapidly along the corridor then making a splashing wave against the wall as it turned the corner. They started running and made a sharp turn on the corner- where Ashelin slipped and fell.

"Go! I'll be fine!" She said. But in her head she was really thinking she was going to die.

Jinx ran to the elevator door as it opened and got inside quickly, looking at Ashelin as she tried to get up. The door closed and Ashelin watched it until the last sliver of light from the elevator disappeared.

The water rushed to her and swept her off the floor down the pipe drain; who knows where it leads to. Ashelin smashed into the side of the pipe from the strong current and everything went black.


	12. Brutter's Place

CH12: Brutter's place

The sun was rising and Ashelin began to open her eyes, which were glued shut, it seemed. She was laying on a bed with sheets made of sewn together leather of some sort and cheap thread. She sat up and looked around, then looked out of the window. She was in the water slums, in the far corner of the north wall. Ashelin jumped off the bed and looked around the strange place. It was filled with little gadgets and trinkets that sat on shelves and were scattered around everywhere messily; the place looked like a packrat owned it.

She walked over to a little item that was similar to a gyroscope and was made of what appeared to be Precursor metal. It kept spinning around, with little orbs like planets floating and bouncing around an invisible forcefield. It was a pretty little object. It had some ancient dialect written on it that looked similar to the Precurian writing. Ashelin reached out to touch it but then the door on her right slammed open forcefully with a lurker behind it.

"YOU AWAKE!!!" She heard the lurker say. "BRUTTER HAPPY TO MEET YOU! WHAT YOUR NAME RED TROOPER GIRL?"

"You talk?" She said startled to him.

"Welcome, Yutok! Brutter happy to be at Yutok's service!" Brutter said to her

"No, my name is not 'Yutok'… uh, Brutter. It's Ashelin." She said tensely to Brutter, still confused.

"Oh, sorry red trooper girl Ashelin! You are guest of Brutter's hut! I find you floating in water near dock this morning and Brutter think you help me!" He said enthusiastically.

Ashelin kept staring at him, since he was unusually smart for a lurker. She knew lurkers were excellent craftsmen, but not so good to where they could make their own clothing and decorate their own home.

"Okay, fine. You 'saved my life'. What do you want me to do? But make it fast, I have to go somewhere this afternoon." She said.

"All Brutter needs is help in making disguise, and I thank you and help any time needed!"

Ashelin bit her lip. How do you disguise a 300-pound hairy purple animal with bright glowing yellow eyes? She looked to the side and saw a couple of blue feathers, and figured they can be used as fake ears. There was a black, slick wig right next the feathers on the desk, which could be used as hair for his head.

"I think these might work for now." She said as she grabbed the wig and put it on his head. It stayed on surprisingly well. Then she grabbed the feathers and twirled them around her fingers for a while until she found the exact place to put them. She stuck them in the side of the wig and adjusted them carefully to where they seemed in the right position. Brutter already had some clothing on, but all he needed was something to cover the eyes.

"There's not much else I can do, and I have to go to the Fortress this afternoon, so you'll have to figure the rest out yourself." Ashelin said to Brutter.

"Alright red trooper girl! I think I be fine! You come back for sleep tonight?" He asked her.

"No, I'm sorry but I can't tonight. Maybe later, ok?" She said as she gave him a small red communicator. "You can call me any time. Just hold down the little button on the side when you want to talk, and let go when you want to hear a response. Take care."

Ashelin stepped out of the house and walked away as Brutter observed the device. She heard a door close behind her. She had plenty of time to get to class, and she had no choice but to walk without getting caught.


	13. The Job Offer

CH13: The Job Offer

Training wasn't so rough that day, but Erol kept eying Ashelin with a glare during the whole time. By the end of class, Ashelin wasn't even tired from all of the extra push-ups. She did them with one hand, by the way.

"I'm surprised with your sudden improvement… did that little cleaning of the cells help at all?" Erol said as she was exiting the room.

Ashelin's heart skipped a beat. Was he talking about the first time she had to clean the experimentation room and cells 3 weeks ago, or the time on Friday morning when Jak was tortured?

"Yes…" She said shakily, guessing that he didn't know what happened the _other_ time.

"Good. Discipline is the key. You made such an improvement that I've put something into consideration. If you get any better, I may offer you to be the Captain of the Krimzon Guard. A step lower from _my_ rank, as you should very well know."

"I'll do it sir." She said, almost enthusiastically.

"Good. Keep up the good work…" He said as he turned his back and walked in the opposite direction.

The next few weeks were cold, as winter was approaching early this year and the fiery-colored leaves of all the trees were falling off slowly. Ashelin had only half a month to go before the KG training was over and before she became a Captain. Being the Captain sounded like a challenge, especially with the alert about a monster running around the city. Even if no one has figured it out yet, it'd still be quite difficult keeping the whole situation hush-hush. Only a few weeks have passed, and 3 people know already that are supposedly alive: Jinx, Mog, and Grim. Life got easier and much more difficult at the same time somehow due to these 'powers', though. So it wasn't a free ride.

Ashelin had still not bought a new pair of gloves yet, ever since she ruined her last pair with her claws, so she headed over to the bazaar to buy another new pair. There were only a few shops open at the time, since everything closes in the evening. There were patches of snow on the ground here and there and on the terracotta-tiled roofs of the mini-markets.

She spotted the shop she was looking for in the back of the market next to a tent that appeared to belong to a soothsayer of some sort. The shop was still open and a man with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, like Jinx's, was watching the shop with a dazed and bored look on his face. Ashelin walked up and looked at the nice leather gloves that were for display there. Most of them were either black or brown, and there was only one pair of light navy blue left.

Ashelin wanted to purchase the navy blue ones, and lucky her, they were the right size.  
"I'll get the blue ones." She said as she pointed to them. The storeowner removed them from the display and placed them next to the cash register.

"Credit or debit card?" The owner said to her as he was typing in things on the box.  
Ashelin flashed her Krimzon Guard badge to him.  
"Ah, I see..." He said nervously as he quickly handed the gloves to her for free. "Come again!"

"Hold on, do you have a knife or something I can borrow really fast?" She asked him as her attention was focused on the gloves.

"I'm pretty sure I do…" The storeowner started rummaging through all of the shelves and drawers until he came across a sharp shiny object. He picked it up and handed it to Ashelin, who took it immediately and started cutting off the fingers of the gloves. The guy didn't even ask what she was doing to them; he just waited for her to give the knife back.

After all of the fingers were cut off on them, she put the knife back on the counter table.

"Thanks." She said as she turned around and walked away, examining her gloves.


	14. New Gloves

Disclaimer: You can figure out what I own and what I don't. Gordon is mine.

CH14: New Gloves

Ashelin slipped on the new gloves over her hands. Without the fingers on them, she wouldn't have to worry about them ripping, as there was nothing to block her claws. She wouldn't have to remove them for wall-climbing either. They were really the kind of gloves that made getting the job done easier. When she got back to the palace, she would take the old red armor from her tattered gloves and attach them to the new ones. _They looked nice and snazzy too…_

…Ashelin felt an extremely sharp pain on one side of her neck. She fell to the ground on her knees that had collapsed suddenly, not knowing what happened. She felt the left side of her neck and pulled out a sharp pointed metal object and clenched it in her hand. Her vision was blurring dramatically, but she could see that the object that had penetrated her skin was a dart of some sort. She held it closer to her face, and saw a small amount of black and purple oil-like liquid drip from its point; dark eco. Her hearing faded to where she could barely hear anything, and there was a bad ringing in her ears. Her arm holding the dart went limp, and soon enough the rest of her, and went unconscious.

She was on the floor… half-awake. The floor was cold and had a metallic feel to it… She opened her eyes a little more. She was in the fortress experimentation room next to the cells… Her vision was distorted badly so it was hard to tell. She got up groggily, feeling her way around carefully until she felt a box or crate of some sort to sit on. She was really wobbly until she sat down. She was nauseated and had a horrible headache so she put her hands over her head. Her jaw was filled with an aching sensation also, which didn't make her feel much better. There was a jolting pain, not ache, in her fingernails, so she took her hands off her face in sudden shock.

And then her vision came back better than before. She looked at herself to see what was causing the pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

She saw that her hands were turning a light blue and razor-sharp black claws where growing from her fingernails. She tried shaking her hand in a feeble attempt to rid of the unfamiliar look of them. She got up, not knowing what to do and instinctively turned around to look for a place to run and hide. She saw her reflection on the rusty mirror-like metal wall behind her.

Her skin on her face was changing to a light blue color, and her eyes were completely black like her pupils; no iris, no whites, just black.

"Holy. Shit." She said in kind of a quiet voice as she was feeling her face, completely freaked out from the transformation. Her hair was becoming frizzy, and was turning a dark gray color replacing the red. She noticed that as she spoke, her canines had become more pointed and sharp, like short fangs. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see anything more.

"Please… oh, Mar…"

I swear to my father that I'll never spy again… But that was a few years ago before he threw me in here… that bastard…

She backed off slowly into a corner and sat back down. She tried to calm down and was breathing heavily.

_I'm fine, I'm fine… no I'm not._

_I have to get out of here_ _now_. She thought to herself as she grabbed her coat that was laying on the ground near her feet and put the hood on over her head and rolled down the sleeves to where her bare hands couldn't show.

She ran over to the elevator and got inside. The elevator went up to the fifth floor, the KG training center. The door opened and she rushed out into the crowd of people, knocking into them and pushing along quickly as she ran along. She turned left and came to a dead end of the hallway with an open window. A small ledge was sticking out from the bottom. She looked out of the window and saw the cars below and the slummy houses on the half-destroyed street. She backed away from the ledge and looked behind her to make sure no one was watching. She put the hood down on her coat and tried to flatten her hair a bit in frustration, and failed.

She took a deep breath and concentrated on the four-story building out side of the window. She went into a run and ran straight towards the ledge and jumped at the edge, pushing against the corner of it with her hands and feet. She made a nearly impossible leap and was coming down straight at the roof the building. She landed on it with a small thump with two feet and a hand. Her balance was practically perfect while landing too. She had actually made the jump... that was either luck or…

She started to feel like everything was fading… going black… then getting lighter again…

Ashelin opened her eyes. How long had she been unconscious from the dart? More importantly: where was she? She looked around and saw that she was in a lab of some sort… not like the fortress lab, as this one was much cleaner and most of the things were made from stainless steel, glass, and plastic. The lab in the fortress had rusty metal that was so dirty that you wouldn't even be able to identify it, and not much else. It was kind of a small lab compared to the Krimzon Guard fortress. It seemed to be about 500 by 600 square feet and had two doors with the standard 8-foot ceiling. She got up from her slouching position and then noticed that she was being contained in a large vertical glass tube. She tapped her finger on the glass and noticed it was blue and had the claws retracted to only two-thirds of an inch, not the way it was when she was holding the dart. Then it hit her: the dark eco on the dart must have caused a reaction to make her change again.

One of the doors opened. Then she saw a man in a white tunic, brown pants, and short black hair walk in and close the door behind him. He grabbed a clipboard and pen off of the counter to the left-side of him and walked over to her. Ashelin tensed up and growled at him. She didn't take her eyes off of the man as he circled her, taking notes on the clipboard.

"Will you finally stop that?!?" She said in agitation when the man finally looked like he was going to stop observing her like some sort of kid's science fair project.

"You are capable of speech?" The guy asked her calmly taking more notes on his clipboard.

"Brilliant observation!" She said sarcastically. "What do you think I am, some sort of animal?! I'm a person, so of course I talk you dip-shit! Just let me out of here and-"

"You're too dangerous to be let out of there."

"Do you really think I look 'dangerous'?" Ashelin said as she crossed her arms.

"You're staying in there, and you're not going anywhere."

"I'd like to see you try…" Ashelin said to him in a threatening tone.

"Nothing can break through tha-"

She had clenched her hand into a fist and drew it back. She bared her teeth in anger, and prepared to strike the glass container. She thrusted her fist at it, yelling in fury; and broke the glass effortlessly. Pieces shattered everywhere and fell onto the ground. She took her fist again, satisfied with the last result, and plowed it into the other side of the glass with even more force than the last blow. The glass on the whole container shattered completely.

Ashelin hopped out of the remains and onto the little shards of glass on the white tiled floor. She looked at the scientist and flexed her claws menacingly. It was easier with the new gloves on, so she wouldn't have to worry about tearing them. She glared and walked up to him carefully watching where she was walking, not even making the slightest attempt to be intimidating. The man dropped his clipboard and put his pen away in his shirt-pocket.

The glass crunched and crushed under Ashelin's boots as she neared closer to him. She saw a flash of movement that appeared to be the man's arm heading to a light switch on his left right above the counter. The lights went off and the room was pitch-black.

"Wow, that was a smart move, genius. On your part."

She walked over to him and grabbed him by the shirt collar, then picked him up and slammed him against the door. Just then, the other door next to it opened and the light went back on.

"What in the hell is going on?" Said a voice from the person that stepped out from the door.

The man was tall, really skinny, and had kind of a long face; which had tattoos on it, by the way. His hairstyle was the same as Ashelin's, except the color was more of a red-brown and pulled back a little more. His eyes were blue and stern, but when he saw the situation the scientist-dude and Ashelin were in, his eyes were more full of confusion more than anything else.

"TORN?!?" She yelped and dropped the guy from her grip. She changed back into her normal self within two seconds without even noticing and her hand was still frozen in the same position as it when she was choking the scientist-guy.

"Ashelin?" Torn said more quiet than her in a really confused tone. "What are you doing here, and what was _that_ all about?"

"I'd like to know the same too." The scientist said in a witty voice.

"Shut _up_, Gordon," Torn said to the scientist, then looked back to Ashelin, "Now tell me, what is going on here? Why are _you_ here?" He looked at Gordon. "Why is most of the equipment destroyed? And Gordon, where's the new recruit you said was on the way? You have three seconds to explain."

"She's right infront of your face. And she turned into a creature of some sort and tried to kill me." Gordon stated, which was pretty much the whole summary of what just happened.

"When you said you were going to get a recruit, you could've gotten someone besides the Baron's daughter. Hold on, run that other part by me again? There's no way in hell that she's _it_." Torn said to Gordon.

Ashelin kept quiet and didn't bother saying anything, knowing that '_it_' was referring to the Dark Eco Freak.

"Don't believe me?" Gordon responded to Torn.

"No, as a matter of fact I don't. Show me evidence, first of all."

Gordon got up and pointed around the room at the broken glass on the floor and the container thing, and other broken objects on the counter next to him.

"And if that's not enough for you, we can go check the surveillance camera recordings."

Torn didn't say anything for a while, it appeared as if he was thinking.

"Show me the tapes." He said finally. "Someone once taught me that dangerous is useful."


End file.
